


The Flower Shop

by shmulia



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, and kristoff's her favourite customer, in which anna owns a flower shop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 20:40:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4801529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shmulia/pseuds/shmulia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every time Kristoff buys one of Anna’s bouquets, he gives her a flower. Every time he gives her a flower, she falls for him a little bit more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Flower Shop

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the tumblr prompt “person a of your otp owns a flower shop, and person b always gives them a flower whenever they buy a bouquet.” Turns out I love putting Kristoff and Anna into customer/salesperson aus ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

When Anna first meets him, it’s late summer. Business is slow that day – it is most days during the summer, to be honest – as most of her customers are out picking wild flowers instead of buying her bouquets. She doesn’t begrudge them that in the slightest; Anna just wishes that _she_ could be out in the sun, instead of standing behind a counter with only a fan blowing lukewarm air in her direction for company.

She’s leaning on the counter, her head resting in one hand as her fingers drum a mindless beat on the polished wood with the other. She’s blowing her bangs out of her eyes, wondering if she can get Elsa to cut them for her so she won’t have to pay for a haircut, not paying attention to the door when he walks in. It’s only when the bells placed by the door to alert her to any begin to chime that she looks up.

And boy, is she glad she does.

The first thing Anna notices about the customer is the fact that he looks incredibly out of place; he’s not small by any means, and he seems to take up the entirety of her small flower shop. She then realises that the tall man is actually pretty attractive, but is also _incredibly_ flustered. His eyes dart around the shop nervously, and Anna thinks that he must feel as out of place as he looks. She gives him her most reassuring smile, and waves at him.

“Hi!” she trills, drawing the stranger’s attention away from a bouquet of roses that she particularly loves. He looks at her, and smiles nervously. “Can I help you with anything?” Anna asks.

He clears his throat and nods.

“I’m looking for some flowers,” he says, and you can practically see him repeating the words over in his head as he blushes furiously. Anna grins.

“I think you’ve come to the right place then,” she winks. The guy looks as if he wants to implode from embarrassment, and Anna decides that teasing him is probably not the best thing right now. “So, what are you looking for? I’m Anna, by the way.” She moves out from behind the counter, extending her hand to him. The man looks slightly taken aback, but takes her hand nonetheless, shaking it firmly.

“I’m Kristoff. I’m getting something for my mom’s birthday – something really nice, really pretty.” Something in Kristoff softens slightly when he mentions his mother, and Anna beams at him.

“That’s so sweet! When’s the big day?”

Kristoff frowns a little.

“It’s, uh, actually today,” he says, avoiding Anna’s eyes. She doesn’t raise an eyebrow, doesn’t question his lateness in present buying. Instead, she rests a reassuring hand on Kristoff’s arm.

“Well, better get her something gorgeous, then.” Anna grins.

“I wouldn’t worry though; at least she’ll get something on the day. I’ve had customers who are weeks late for whatever event they’re getting flowers for. They tend to be the ones who spend the most though, so I’m not complaining!”

Kristoff scratches the back of his neck, and Anna notices the muscles which flex underneath the blue shirt he’s wearing.She clears her throat, and steps backwards.

“So, do you know what kind of flowers you want?” she asks, praying that the answer is a resounding “yes.” She’s had to work from nothing far too many times, with picky customers who have no idea about what they want continually telling her that whilst her flowers are pretty, the bouquets “aren’t what they’re looking for.” Even though the customers have told her that they don’t know what they’re looking for.

It’s enough to make a person scream.

So when she sees Kristoff bite his lip and shake his head, she sighs internally whilst continuing to smile.

“Okay. Right, well, do you have any ideas about what she’d like? Colours, flowers types, anything?”

At this Kristoff perks up, and Anna feels relief wash over her.

“She loves purple,” Kristoff says. “And she’s always talking about ombre designs – you know, where colours fade and-”

“Get lighter or darker as they continue.” Anna finishes. “I’ve got just the thing. Wait here!”

She dives into the shelves of flowers, fighting through stems and stamens to get to the bouquet she’s picturing. After a moment of searching, the flowers seem to reveal themselves to her, and she tenderly grabs the arrangement of lilies. The flowers deepen in colour over the petal, starting with a pale violet at the rims and moving into a plum-coloured hue in the middle.

They’re perfect.

Anna just hopes Kristoff thinks so.

When she walks back into the main part of the shop, Kristoff is frowning at his phone. She clears her throat, making him look up at her. When his eyes land on the flowers, the grumpiness vanishes, and a smile splits his face.

“They’re perfect!” he says, echoing Anna’s own thoughts, and Anna walks to the cash register to ring up the price, placing the lilies on the counter beside her. Before she finalises the price, Anna looks up at Kristoff questioningly.

“Do you need a card?” she asks. Kristoff shakes his head, his grin becoming slightly self deprecating.

“No thanks. I’m at least that much prepared!” he jokes. Anna gives him a thumbs up before asking for payment. Kristoff gives her a card, and as they wait for the card machine to print the receipt, Anna looks lovingly at the flowers.

“I hope your mom has a great birthday! She’s so lucky she’s born in summer. I’m a winter baby, and it _always_ rains on my birthday.” Anna sighs as the cash machine stutters out the customer receipt, which she hands to Kristoff. He tucks it into the pocket of his pants, carefully taking hold of the bouquet.

“Thanks,” he says, and for a second he looks down at the lilies in his arms. He plucks one out of the bouquet, and thrusts it at Anna.

“Um, here. Thank you,” Kristoff says. Anna takes the lily, slightly dumbfounded, but before she can respond Kristoff is out of the shop and walking down the street, clutching his bouquet.

Anna smiles fondly after him, and smells the lily. She can’t wipe the smile off her face as she puts it to one side carefully, keeping it apart from all the rest.

After all, when you own a flower shop, actually receiving flowers is a rare thing.

                                                                                                                             ***

The second time she meets Kristoff is about a month later, and Anna is exhausted. She doesn’t notice him walk in due to the small matter of her face resting on the counter, and it’s only when a hand gently taps her on the shoulder that she looks up.

“Are you alright?” Kristoff asks, concern written all over his face. Anna nods her head slowly, eyelids drooping as she tries to focus on him.

“Yeah,” she yawns. “’m a little tired, didn’t sleep well last night.”

“I can tell.” There’s a pause as Anna puts her chin in her hands, and promptly dozes off again. “Uh, Anna?”

“I’m awaaake,” she mumbles. She rubs the eyes with the heels of her hands, squishing her face to try and wake herself up. “So, what can I do for you today, Christopher?”

“Um, it’s Kristoff.”

Her eyebrows furrow, and her gaze tells Kristoff that, at this moment in time, she doesn’t care if his name is Jigglebarrow Pumplisnip. “Anyway, I was kind of hoping I could buy that bouquet of tulips?” Anna is relieved to see that he carefully takes a bundle of flowers and brings them to her, taking away any need for her to move. She straightens up slightly as Kristoff lays down the flowers to pull out his wallet, and clumsily grabs the card machine.

“Sorry,” Kristoff says as she thrusts the machine at him, “is it okay if I leave these with you for a second? I need to go get some cash out from the bank - I need to get some for bus money.” Anna nods, dropping her head down onto the counter. She barely hears the bells on the door tinkle as Kristoff leaves, and she swears that only three seconds have passed when he’s tapping her awake again.

She looks up at him, and he’s holding something out to her which makes briefly question if he’s her guardian angel.

“Is that...?” she asks reverently. Kristoff nods.

“You look like you could use a pick me up, so I grabbed a coffee for you. Um, I thought you’d probably like it sweet, but I didn’t know _how_ sweet, so I brought you some sugars.” He drops about five of the little sachets on front of Anna, as well as a wooden stirrer, and she looks up at him like he’s a god

“Thank you,” she says, pouring all five of the sugars into the beverage and stirring it before taking a sip. She sighs contentedly, smiling less sleepily at Kristoff.

“You’re welcome,” Kristoff replies, raking one of his hands through his hair. “I know how it feels to get no sleep, I figured you could use some caffeine.”

Anna hums in agreement, taking another drink from the Styrofoam cup.

“Are you a student or something?” she asks. Kristoff’s eyes widen slightly and he nods.

“Yeah. How did you know?”

Anna gives him a half smile. “Just a lucky guess. My sister’s a student, and she’s always saying she could “use some coffee”. The number of times I’ve done the same thing for her might be close to a million.”

Kristoff lets out a huff of amusement. “Well, good call.” He holds out some bills to Anna, which she looks at in confusion for a moment.

“For the tulips?” Kristoff prompts. Her eyes light up in recognition/

“Ah, yes, the tulips. Flower shop. Money. Right.” Anna takes the cash, counting it quickly as Kristoff takes hold of the bouquet he’d left on the counter. She grasps the warm cup immediately once she’s slipped the money into the cash register, and asks Kristoff what the flowers are for.

When he tells her it’s his cousin’s graduation, she passes on her congratulations and lets her eyes close slowly, the caffeine not quite hitting her system yet. She hears him say goodbye, and she _thinks_ she waves at him, but she isn’t one hundred per cent sure.

When she starts to focus again, she notices the bright yellow tulip lying next to her next to the lukewarm coffee, with a note scribbled in messy handwriting saying ‘I hope you feel better tomorrow!’ ripped from the pad of paper next to the cash register.

Anna grins as she drinks the rest of the coffee.

                                                                                                                           ***

Anna sees him walking past the shop now and again. He usually waves if she’s not busy and catches his eye, but he doesn’t re-enter the flower shop until autumn has gripped Arendelle, autumn leaves colouring the ground red and brown as they slowly cascade from the trees. The shop is decorated in similar colours, with orange, red, and yellow flowers, and blossoms every shade in between, dotting around Anna.

As the days get shorter, Anna’s business gets better. There are plenty of anniversaries around autumn, and buying flowers is more appealing than picking them at this time of year.

Anna’s arranging a large pre-ordered bouquet, sliding a dusty pink rose in amongst the purples and reds of the other flowers, when the door chimes. Her eyes don’t look up as she welcomes the new customer, focusing completely on the placement of tiny, budding green stems in between the brighter colours. She glares at one of the flowers in the bouquet, an orange calla lily that just doesn’t _look_ right no matter how she places it.

“That looks lovely,” Kristoff remarks, causing Anna’s head to snap towards him. Her plait swings over her shoulder as she does so, spilling over the front of her jumper and hitting her in the chin. She tucks it back over her shoulder, grimacing in embarrassment.

“Hey! Sorry, I didn’t realise it was you!” Anna says cheerily. Kristoff moves towards her, and Anna thinks that he’s more confident than the first time she met him. “How’ve you been?”

Kristoff stops short of the counter, admiring Anna’s floral handiwork. “I’ve been alright, thanks. How about you? How’s business been?” Kristoff replies, meeting Anna’s eyes. She makes a ‘so-so’ motion with her hand.

“I’m alright. Business has been decent, but it’s definitely getting a lot better! I’ve got this great order from one of my customers, isn’t it _gorgeous_?” she asks, caressing the petals of the flowers in the bouquet she’d previously been arranging. She sighs, proud of her work despite her issues with the calla lily, and Kristoff nods in affirmation.

“It really is. A special occasion?” he asks. Anna scrunches up her nose, and Kristoff notices the smattering of freckles across her cheeks for the first time.

“I don’t know, he didn’t say. Must be, though. People rarely buy flowers for the fun of it anymore,” she says wistfully. Anna rolls her eyes, shrugging at Kristoff. “So, what are you looking for today, handsome?” she drawls, winking at him. His face turns a delicate shade of pink, and Anna snorts with laughter as the compliment turns the tall man in front of her into a deer in headlights.

“I’m, uh, picking up an order for my granddad. Mr Pabby? He ordered a bouquet last week,” Kristoff said, still blushing.

 “You’re related to Grand Pabby?The Grand Pabby that ordered this,” she motioned to the flowers she had just been arranging, “bouquet? Dr. Pabby?” Anna asks, eyes widening in disbelief. Kristoff shrugs nonchalantly, but Anna can see the tiny smile of pride quirking his lips upwards slightly.

“Yeah, he’s my mom’s dad. You know him?”

Anna nods furiously as she leans on the counter.

“Grand Pabby helped me out when I was a kid. I fell off a trampoline when I was little, and he fixed my head right up!” Anna knocks her head with her fist to prove her point, wincing as she hits it slightly harder than intended. “As good as new!”

Kristoff frowns in concern.

“Were you okay?” he asks. Anna pushes her bangs out of her face as she laughs.

“Yeah. I mean, not at the time, no – I had to get stitches, and I was unconscious for a while, but it all worked out alright!”

Kristoff’s mouth falls open in a small ‘o’ of surprise.

“Hold on, do you have a sister called Elsa? White blonde hair, dresses in blue a lot?” He asks.

Anna raises an eyebrow, leaning her head on her hand. “Wow, that’s creepy. Yes, I do. And you know this how, exactly?”

Kristoff rubs the back of his neck as his other arm cradles the bundles of flowers.

“I know Elsa from my environmental conservation class. We were talking about injuries after someone tripped and fell on the stairs a few days ago, and she mentioned that her little sister had a serious head injury when she was little, I didn’t know it was you! But it turns out I was at the hospital that day, I saw your parents carry you in. I remember because Grand Pabby _never_ let me visit him at work, but that day I did and I saw you unconscious and was really worried and my mom had to come take me home,” Kristoff babbles. He pauses, realising that he's been talking nonstop. “Um. Yeah.”

Anna tries to hold back a giggle, but Kristoff looks so _bashful_ that she can’t quite stop it escaping her lips.

“Wait, _you’re_ the guy Elsa’s friends with from her Environment class? She’s been calling you Chris!”

“...I’m glad that’s what you took away from that story.”

Anna scrunches up her nose at him, and Kristoff chuckles.

“Well, as happy as I am that we apparently know each other from childhood, being unconscious at that time _kind_ of ruins the cuteness of it,” she says.

“Fair point,” Kristoff concedes. A loud beep sounds from his pocket, and Kristoff rearranges the flowers in his arms so he can take the phone call. He smiles apologetically at Anna when he presses the phone against his cheek, who  in return pretends to sigh dramatically as she rings up the cash register. In a shop the size of hers, not listening into the conversation isn’t an option, so she hums quietly to herself to at least pretend to give Kristoff some privacy.

“Hey, mom... yeah, I’m just picking up the flowers Pabby ordered... okay... yeah, uh huh... I’ll grab some on the way back, I’ll be home soon... yep... yep... mom, no, Sven doesn’t need any extra meals, the big lug’s getting bigger every day... _yes_ , I remembered... okay, love you too mom. Bye. _Bye,_ mom.”

Anna raises an eyebrow as Kristoff slides the phone back into his jeans, shaking his head as he does so.

“So, how’s your mom?” she asks. Kristoff rolls his eyes.

“She’s good, just waiting for me to bring bits and pieces home.”

Anna tilts her head, resting it on her palm. “So what’s the occasion? And don’t tell me it’s nothing, I know a family event when I hear one.”

Kristoff immediately becomes quiet, eyes scanning Anna’s. He’s looking at her intently, as if trying to decide what to say, and Anna wonders if she’s crossed a line she didn’t know about. After a moment of echoing silence, Kristoff speaks.

“It’s... kind of an anniversary. It’s the day I was adopted by my mom.” He says, his hand moving to the back of his neck in a gesture Anna realises is the result of nervousness. She smiles fondly at him, and pulls the bouquet towards her.

“Well, that sounds like it’s a great thing to celebrate.” She pulls out a piece of red ribbon from a drawer in the counter, and ties a neat bow around the tightly woven basket holding the bouquet together. “There, finished!” she announces, taking a step back and placing her hands on her hips as she inspects the flowers. She sighs at the lone calla lily, and wonders if she should just pull it out.

Kristoff hands her a credit card which she puts into the machine, holding it out so he can put his PIN in. He looks at the amount on the machine, his brows furrowing in confusion.

 “Uh, Anna? You’ve put the wrong price on the receipt. I’m sure the flowers cost more than that.”

Anna waves away Kristoff’s concern.

“Friends and family discount. Call it a thanks to Grand Pabby for, you know, making sure I wasn’t concussed as a kid. Besides, we’re practically childhood besties, right?” Anna winks.

Kristoff blinks at her in surprise before breaking into a smile. Anna’s struck by the strength of his smile, and wishes that she could see it more often.

“Thanks, Anna,” Kristoff says. She looks down at the flowers in front of her, trying to hide the blush she can feel creeping up her neck.

“You’re very welcome. Just give me a minute to figure out what to do with this lily, and the flowers are all yours.”

Anna considers her options for a moment, and then decided to go for it. She carefully entices the calla lily out of the bouquet, and presents it to Kristoff. When he takes it, Anna holds up a finger, indicating for Kristoff to wait where he is, and goes to pull out another rose from a different bunch of flowers. She comes back, sliding the rose into the newly vacant section of the bouquet, and nods her head in approval when she regards the final product.

“Perfect,” she says. Kristoff blinks at her, looking down at the flower in his hand and then up again.

“You can keep that, it was meant to be in the bouquet but there weren’t any more of them, so it just didn’t look right,” Anna explains. “But it’s pretty on its own, so you may as well keep it!”

Kristoff raises an eyebrow, and looks down at the bouquet on the wooden surface.

“It _is_ pretty,” Kristoff replies, “but I can’t carry it and the bouquet home. So tell you what, this is for you. As a thank you for such a beautiful arrangement.” He smiles shyly at her, placing the lily down and picking up the basket. “And it matches the colour of your hair. So you should definitely have it.”

Anna bites back a laugh.

“That logic makes no sense.”

“Just go with it.” In a move that surprises Anna, Kristoff winks at her. “I’ll see you round, Anna.”

He raises a hand (as much as he can given that he’s cradling a basket in his arms) and turns, bumping the door open with his hip as Anna watches him, a wide grin on her face which lasts hours.

                                                                                                                         ***

The days get colder, and Kristoff’s visits to the flower shop increase. He stops actually buying flowers (which Anna thinks she _should_ be annoyed about, but isn’t), but always brings her a hot drink from the coffee shop down the road.

She thinks about telling him about the kettle in the back room, but decides against it. She doesn’t really like making coffee, anyway.

She also doesn’t tell him that she’s kept the flowers he gave her, pressed and put away in her diary for safekeeping. But apart from that, there’s nothing secret between the two of them.

Business fluctuates as the holidays creep ever closer; for a while the shop is dead, and Kristoff’s presence is something Anna is incredibly grateful for. They spend the hours that Kristoff can spare sitting on the floor or arranging flowers, drinking coffee and figuring each other out. On rare occasions, Elsa joins them, but they’re few and far between; it’s a weird experience, watching your little sister fall for the friendly guy in one of your classes.

Anna’s always been good at making friends, and Kristoff is no exception to that rule; they slowly grow closer, and some of Anna’s customers begin to ask if she hired some help. But as Christmas and New Year beckon, time gets dearer; Kristoff has essays to write and exams to prepare for, and Anna’s nearly overwhelmed with the rush of orders she gets for late presents and early celebrations.

They enter the New Year barely seeing each other, and although they manage a phone call at midnight, there’s just too much going on for Kristoff to be able to stop at the flower shop for long. Anna doesn’t realise how much she’s gotten used to Kristoff’s company until he’s not around much. They text, and they talk, but Anna still misses him; she’s aware that she’s falling for him, a little bit more every time they speak, and his growing confidence around her gives her a flicker of hope that she may actually have a chance. She knows his exams aren’t going to wind down until late January, and she doesn’t expect to see him until then.

So when he turns up on her birthday, Anna’s surprised. She’s rearranging the shelves – Valentine’s Day is coming up, and she wants people to know that her roses are beautiful beforehand – when the bell at the door indicates an arrival, she’s at the top of a stepladder, placing the final rose in a rainbow of colours, displaying the many kinds she has available to her for potential customers. The bouquets are stacked on their side, with crimson roses beginning the line of flowers which fade from red, to orange, to peach, to pink, to yellow, to white.

She hears the familiar sound and looks down, squealing joyfully when she sees the blonde mop of hair just below her. Anna doesn’t think about her next action, and leaps off of the (thankfully short) stepladder into Kristoff’s arms.

In hindsight, she’s glad that he managed to catch her; otherwise, her birthday may have ended with her in hospital.

Kristoff takes a step backwards with the force of Anna’s leap, but wraps his arms around her and spins her, partially out of happiness, but also so that he can regain balance.

“Hi!” she says when Kristoff puts her down, pulling down the bottom of her sweater which had hitched up slightly. “Wow, that was like a crazy trust exercise!”

“Happy birthday!” Kristoff grins, one arm holding something behind his back, and Anna’s heart beats a little bit faster.

“You remembered!” she beams at him. Kristoff chuckles.

“Like I could forget,” he jokes. “I’m sorry Anna, I can’t stay for long, but I wanted to drop by and give you your present.”

Anna fiddles with a stand of hair, twining it around her finger as her eyes lit up at the word ‘present’. “You didn’t have to get me anything!”

“I know,” Kristoff says simply. “Now, close your eyes and hold out your hands.”

Anna complies with his instructions, and feels a large box being placed carefully into her hands. She opens one eye, causing Kristoff to snort.

“I guess you can open your eyes then,” he says. She does, and immediately rips into the clumsily wrapped paper covering the box. When she tears a strip away to reveal the words “finest chocolate”, she looks at Kristoff like she’s been given gold.

“I thought you might be sick of flowers,” Kristoff shrugs, before being enveloped by Anna’s arms.

“Thank you!” she whispers into his ear, placing a kiss on his cheek before stepping back. Kristoff’s eyes are wide when she looks up at him, heat rising rapidly to his face, a small smile playing on his lips.

“You’re welcome, Anna. I hope you enjoy them. I’ve gotta make a run for it, but I’ll see you really soon, okay?”

Anna nods, and there’s a softness in Kristoff’s gaze as he looks at her, as if he’s trying to memorise her image before leaving. He walks out, but as Anna’s contemplating whether or not to open the chocolates, he pops his head back round the door.

“Hey Anna?”

She looks up at the figure in the doorway, biting her lip.

“Yeah?”

Kristoff smirks.

“Elsa knows what I got you, so you should probably share them with her.”

He chuckles as she pouts, shutting the door behind him.

                                                                                                                          ***

Valentine ’s Day is upon Anna before she knows it. The flood of buyers from December quells briefly, only for the floodgates to reopen in February. Anna’s spent the past week planning, arranging and selling her flowers; by the end of the day she has a lone bouquet of roses left in the shop, which has been put aside for a specific purpose.

She has _plans_ for those roses.

They're blood red, her favourite colour on a rose. She’d carefully wrapped them in cellophane, tying a ribbon the exact shade of their petals around their stems to hold them together. They're beautiful.

They're for Kristoff.

That is, if he ever decides to come into the shop.

Anna had decided that today was up to fate. There is no guarantee that Kristoff will visit her today – since his exams had ended he’d started popping in again, but there was certainly no schedule to his appearances  - but if he does, Anna is going to ask him to be her valentine.

It’s either going to go really well, or she's about to make her friendship with Kristoff _really_ awkward, Anna thinks to herself. But it’s a risk she’s willing to take.

The door opens, letting a cold breeze into the store. The person entering shuts the door quickly, and Kristoff walks in, hands shoved deeply into the pockets of his jacket.

“Damn, it’s _freezing_ out there today!” he remarks, striding towards Anna. He looks at the nearly empty shop, eyes widening at the lack of flowers. “Good business today, huh?”

Anna rolls her eyes. “Flowers tend to sell well on Valentine’s Day. I hear they’re quite the romantic gesture.” Her heart skips a beat as Kristoff grins at that, and she steels her nerves. She’s going to ask him. She won't chicken out. She -

“Actually, a romantic gesture is kind of why I’m here,” Kristoff says. “I was hoping you’d have some roses left.”

Anna blinks at him in confusion.

“Why?”

Kristoff raises an eyebrow at the question. “Well, I wanted to ask a girl to be my valentine. A good friend told me recently that flowers are quite the romantic gesture.” He winks, and Anna’s heart drops.

_Good friend._

The room, not exactly hot to begin with, feels slightly cooler to Anna. She nods towards the roses she’d made especially for the boy buying them for someone else, and tries to keep her voice even.

“Well, uh, we have those ones left. They’re expensive though,” she says, and curses herself for trying to put him off buying them. If he wants to buy a girl flowers, he’s allowed to, she reminds herself. Kristoff peers at the flowers, and carefully picks them up and brings them over to Anna.

“They’re perfect, Anna. I’ll take them.” He smiles softly as Anna nods at him, pulling the flowers closer to her.

“Is she pretty?” Anna asks noncommittally, caressing the petals of the flowers to ensure they look as beautiful as possible. Kristoff rests his chin in his hand as he leans on the desk, something he would never have done a few months previously, and the intimacy of the action slams into Anna like a brick.

“The prettiest,” Kristoff replies, his eyes not moving from Anna.

“Do you want a card?” Anna asks, trying to brush off the sting of Kristoff’s words. He’s met the prettiest girl. He’s buying roses for her. Well, fine. Anna’s got plans of her own. Yes, they originally involved Kristoff, but Elsa is always up for a movie night, and what could be better than bonding time with her sister?

“Yes, please. Could you write ‘Will You Be My Valentine?’ on it?” Kristoff answers. Anna nods, still not looking up at him as she writes the card in her elegant script. She shouldn’t be jealous. She had no claim on Kristoff. He probably knew lots of nice girls at Arendelle University. She _shouldn’t be jealous._

But she is. Oh, she is.

She can feel it welling up within her, hurt and sadness clawing at the back of her throat, choking back any words she might try and say. She takes a deep breath, trying to blink away the sting in her eyes telling her that tears are on their way; she glares at the little piece of card as she attaches it to the bouquet, moving it towards Kristoff as she pulls up the price. He’s got his card ready, and there’s silence as the humming of the machine chokes out a receipt.

Anna reminds herself to smile as she hands it to Kristoff; he’s happy, and isn’t that more important than her bruised pride? She should be pleased for him. She would try.

“I hope she loves the flowers,” Anna says, forcing a smile. Kristoff looks down at the floor before meeting her gaze, a nervous grin on his face.

“She’ll love the flowers. It’s more the guy attached to them I’m worried about her not liking.”

Anna folds her arms across her chest, giving Kristoff a stern look.

“If she doesn’t like you, she’s a fool,” she states. Kristoff smiles shyly at her, and something flickers in his eyes that Anna can’t quite pin down.

“You think so?” he asks, and his voice is serious. Anna nods, not hesitating for a second.

“I know so.” Anna pauses, taking a deep breath and meeting Kristoff’s gaze. “Any girl would be lucky to have you as their valentine, Kristoff Bjorgman.”

Kristoff rubs the back of his neck with his free hand, and lets out a deep breath.

“Thank you, Anna. That... that means a lot.”

Anna pulls her hair over her shoulder, braiding it absentmindedly.

“It’s true,” she shrugs, looking at the split ends of her auburn hair.

“Hey, Anna?” she hears Kristoff ask. She looks up, and the bouquet of roses she put so much heart into is being held towards her.

“Will... will you be my valentine?”


End file.
